Joe Henry

Acclaimed alt-country singer-songwriter Joe Henry will treat his cult following to a set of blues- and jazz-infused songs from last year's album, "Blood From Stars." The new compositions, which have increasingly incorporated classic blues structures in his playing and writing, showcase a rawer, grittier side of the Grammy-winning tunesmith's artistic personality. Largo, 366 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles. 8 p.m. Saturday $25. (310) 855-0350. www.largo-la.com.

The L.A. duo The Milk Carton Kids have the interesting distinction of being just as famous for their live banter as for their music. It's no accident that Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan's act has risen in the ranks of Largo's folk-comedy crossover: part Smothers Brothers cheeky repartee, part Conchords -ian self-awareness about singer-songwriterdom, the time between their songs at shows can be just as compelling as the music. But the music is even better. On their debut album "The Ash & Clay" for Anti- , the duo makes four sounds - two voices, two acoustic guitars - sound as big as a prairie.

Joe Henry is tapped into the American past in unexpected ways. He lives in a roomy South Pasadena Craftsman designed for President Garfield's widow, and his preferred attire, a black suit and pointy boots, suggests that the 48-year-old singer and guitarist would have been at home playing in Elvis Presley's first band. "I typically come to things late," Henry said. "I was too busy with Leadbelly when the Clash happened." These days, the easygoing musician is venturing back to some of the most harrowing music in the American canon: The tormented country blues of Son House, Robert Johnson and Skip James.

Meshell Ndegeocello's place in pop culture has shrunk since her mid-'90s days on MTV . But her talent has only grown. In October the New York-based singer-bassist released the stunningly beautiful "Pour Une Âme Souveraine," a collection of songs written or popularized by Nina Simone featuring guest appearances by Sinead O'Connor, Cody Chesnutt, Lizz Wright and others. Pop & Hiss caught up with Ndegeocello ahead of her show Friday night at UCLA's Royce Hall. "Pour Une Âme Souveraine" follows recent tributes you've done to Prince and Fats Waller . What do you get out of these kinds of projects?

Joe Henry sings from the bottom of the emotional well, then spends most of the time trying to make his way up to level ground. Casting a jaundiced eye toward relationships, the veteran singer-songwriter writes in a magical realist style that's both florid and elliptical, like Gabriel Garcia Marquez recast as a boho folkie. The songs on "Fuse" are peopled by animals, circus acts, eccentric harridans and various oddballs. "I'll keep your monkey/I'll feed him good," sings Henry.

In the smoky folk-flavored rock of Joe Henry, pacing counts more than volume, and emotion drifts out at a steady, alluring pace. It's a sound ready-made for the intimate Troubadour, where Henry appeared Thursday to perform his music of moody intensity. The Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter focused his 90-minute set on the often grim internal monologues of "Trampoline," his sixth and newest album.

Joe Henry crafts music of raw grace and muted passion, a sound endlessly smoky, contemplative and cool. His transformation began with the layering of sampled drums and loops into his wise-guy folk-rock on his '90s albums "Trampoline" and "Fuse." Those albums also hinted at a closet jazzman aesthetic, and "Scar" (in stores Tuesday) finally puts Henry's bop obsessions out front.

The message is ominous: "You stagedive, you go home." Joe Henry, still hours away from show time, studies the sign that hangs beside the stage at the Troubadour. He seems pleased that it's there, with its suggestion of danger and excitement. Leaning against the bar in his dark suit and tie, Henry calmly sips a Coke. "Just once I would like to have to tell the crowd to calm down," he says with a grin. "But it hasn't come up." Not that it should.

Joe Henry quipped Friday night that "you know something's dead when they put it in a museum." Given he was on stage at the Getty Center's Harold M. Williams Auditorium, Henry noted that he's revising that point of view. The singer-songwriter and his three-piece band were very much alive, with invitingly accessible music that dares to not dumb down.

"I'm not an egomaniac," says musician Joe Henry, opening the door of his tiny backyard studio, an oasis of cool darkness amid a sun-blasted South Pasadena afternoon. Along with a rush of chilled air, strains of his heartbreaking blues tune "Richard Pryor Addresses a Tearful Nation" escape into the overheated ether. Pointing to a newspaper photographer inside, the singer-songwriter says, "He made me play this." Indeed, Henry, 40, hardly seems full of himself.

Whether touring, winning Grammys or fighting for the rights of music veterans, singer and guitarist Bonnie Raitt has always had plenty to keep her busy. So over the course of her four-decade career, a gap of a few years between albums wasn't unprecedented. But this time around, the seven-year lapse between her last CD and her new effort, "Slipstream" (arriving Tuesday), is different. The nine-time Grammy Award winner pulled off the road, put the band that she's toured with for decades on ice, and joined the audience.

Acclaimed alt-country singer-songwriter Joe Henry will treat his cult following to a set of blues- and jazz-infused songs from last year's album, "Blood From Stars." The new compositions, which have increasingly incorporated classic blues structures in his playing and writing, showcase a rawer, grittier side of the Grammy-winning tunesmith's artistic personality. Largo, 366 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles. 8 p.m. Saturday $25. (310) 855-0350. www.largo-la.com.

Joe Henry is tapped into the American past in unexpected ways. He lives in a roomy South Pasadena Craftsman designed for President Garfield's widow, and his preferred attire, a black suit and pointy boots, suggests that the 48-year-old singer and guitarist would have been at home playing in Elvis Presley's first band. "I typically come to things late," Henry said. "I was too busy with Leadbelly when the Clash happened." These days, the easygoing musician is venturing back to some of the most harrowing music in the American canon: The tormented country blues of Son House, Robert Johnson and Skip James.

June 8, 2008 | Joe Henry, Joe Henry is a singer, songwriter, recording artist and Grammy-winning producer. His most recent CD, "Civilians," was released last September.

During the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, singer-songwriter Joe Henry participated in a panel on the connection between music and the written word. For our summer reading issue, we asked Henry to elaborate on this question and to write about how literature has helped shape his songs. -- I WAS taken with music at a very young age. Not like a prodigy picking out Debussy at the piano, but dumbstruck, at age 7, by the power of disembodied voices fighting static over the radio.

Joe Henry has released 10 critically acclaimed albums, hired on as the producer of several prestigious projects (soul veterans Bettye Lavette and Solomon Burke, new folk heroine Mary Gauthier) and can name-drop music buddies such as Van Dyke Parks, Bill Frisell and Loudon Wainwright III. Nonetheless, the singer-songwriter is still a connoisseur's flavor, remaining largely under the radar of the literary-pop audience that could be filing him alongside its Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen collections.

You might have heard how the punk-rooted L.A. record company Anti- brought a neglected soul-music legend out of obscurity by recording an album pairing the singer with some contemporary songwriters and musicians.

Joe Henry has released 10 critically acclaimed albums, hired on as the producer of several prestigious projects (soul veterans Bettye Lavette and Solomon Burke, new folk heroine Mary Gauthier) and can name-drop music buddies such as Van Dyke Parks, Bill Frisell and Loudon Wainwright III. Nonetheless, the singer-songwriter is still a connoisseur's flavor, remaining largely under the radar of the literary-pop audience that could be filing him alongside its Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen collections.

Bill Clinton's presidency probably will be remembered for achievements other than returning the saxophone to prominence--but don't underestimate his influence when Bessie Award winners Dan Froot and David Dorfman use woodwinds to satirize male power trips in their three-part interdisciplinary collaboration "Live Sax Acts." In "Horn," they dance in kilts and execute gymnastic lifts while making music--commenting on the competitive nature of male relationships.

Hip-hop and mainstream pop might dominate the sales charts these days, but with the exception of OutKast, neither genre registered strongly with The Times' 18 pop music contributors. Their votes went mainly to the new garage-rock generation represented by the White Stripes and Raveonettes and to the singer-songwriter side of the alt-rock spectrum. Albums are awarded 10 points for a first-place vote, nine points for second, etc. *--* Artist Album Label Pts. No. 1st 1.

Joe Henry quipped Friday night that "you know something's dead when they put it in a museum." Given he was on stage at the Getty Center's Harold M. Williams Auditorium, Henry noted that he's revising that point of view. The singer-songwriter and his three-piece band were very much alive, with invitingly accessible music that dares to not dumb down.